Apple’s Next-Gen ‘M2’ Processor is in Production: Report

The M1 Chip successor from Apple, which is currently being called M2, is looking more likely to arrive in MacBook computers by the end of the year. A new report states that the processor has already gone into mass production and could start shipping as early as July.

This timeline seems to confirm a report from earlier this month that stated the M2 processor would begin production and would therefore arrive in finished Macbook machines by the fall. If production has indeed started, Apple is sticking to that schedule despite the massive silicon shortage that has plagued most computing manufacturers since last year.

According to a recent report from Nikkei and noted by Engadget, the new chips are being produced by a key Apple supplier called Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., which is one of the world's largest chipmakers using a semiconductor production technology called "5-nanometer plus," or "N5P." It currently takes about three months to create this advanced chipset, meaning the rumor of the first batch of devices arriving in July of 2021 lines up well with mass production timelines. The rumors are that the first devices that will feature the new chip in that timeline may be new 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros.

Given that the M1 chipsets already in use offer CPU performance of up to 85% faster and graphics performance of nearly twice as fast than a similar device using an Intel chipset, the introduction of the chips in the rest of the Apple line up will be a boon for Apple fans. Especially since according to research company IDC, the shift to stay-at-home working due to the global pandemic sparked a jump in Mac sales and shipments of over 29% in 2020. The trend continued even further in the first quarter of this year with Mac sales and deliveries up 111% year over year.

The Apple Silicon lineup is a so-called "system-on-a-chip" that integrates the central processing unit (CPU), graphic processing units (GPU), and artificial intelligence accelerators (AI), all on one chip. The goal of Apple is to eventually use this chipset across all their devices, not just the MacBook, Mac Mini, and iMac's. According to Nikkei , Apple is aiming to completely replace Intel's chip offerings over the next two years with its own in an effort to further differentiate its products from the competition.

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New MacBooks Powered by Apple’s M2 Chip Coming This Year: Report

While Apple's latest M1 MacBook Pro is less than six months old, the company is apparently working on the next generation of the laptop powered by the M2 chip, according to a new report.

Tom 's Guide cites a new report from DigiTimes that looks specifically at Apple's booking of production for its new in-house chips that will "very likely" power the next generation of Macs. It is speculated that this will be the M2 chip.

This new chip will reportedly be manufactured by Taiwanese firm TSMC, and based on a 4-nanometer fabrication process node. The current M1 chip is built on a 5-nanometer process technology and is packed with 16 billion transistors, which is the most that Apple has ever put into a chip. Packing more transistors into a slice of silicon would mean adding more power, so dropping from the 5-nanometer process to a 4-nanometer process should result in a notable performance increase. According to DigiTimes , the production of the 4-nanometer process chip is ahead of schedule, as it was previously set for a 2022 time frame.

Improving the M1's performance would be great, especially since the M1 in both the current MacBook Pro and the MacBook Air absolutely blew the doors off expectations and the competition. Linus Tech Tips and PetaPixel 's own internal testing have shown that both the M1 MacBook Air and MacBook Pro absolutely shred the competition, taking into consideration both previous Apple devices as well as current Windows laptops. Even the Mac Mini, which isn't supposed to be a powerhouse device, performed extremely well.

Unfortunately, the M2 probably won't be in the upcoming redesigned iMacs that are expected this spring. Instead, it's expected that the new iMacs will use a desktop-focused version of the M1 chip that is expected to outperform both of the M1 MacBooks as well as the Mac Mini. In February, a leak suggested that not only will the new iMacs sport a new design, they will also come in five colors.

Those new iMacs are expected to be announced in an April event (which at the time of publication was still just a rumor), but don't expect to see the M2 chip or new Macbooks there. You'll probably have to wait until Apple's fall event -- the same time period that it announced the M1 chip in 2020 -- to see it.

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